PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie review: Fun dinosaur adventure packed with life lessons

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie movie review: The movie sends pups to a dinosaur island where a volcanic eruption sparks another rescue mission. Beneath the spectacle, the film centres Marshall's struggle with self-doubt and resilience.

In Short

• PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie sticks to the classic formula kids love
• Pups land on dinosaur island, meet Rex, face volcanic danger
• Marshall's story of self-doubt and courage is central

If you have ever watched a child watch PAW Patrol, you know the drill. The moment Ryder announces a mission, the excitement begins both on and off-screen. PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie understands that devotion and wisely doesn't try to reinvent the formula. Instead, it gives its youngest fans what they came for: dinosaurs, a volcano, a new pup, colourful rescue vehicles and enough chaos to keep everyone busy.

The adventure begins when the pups crash-land on a mysterious island populated by dinosaurs. There they meet Rex, a pup who has been stranded there for years and knows the pre-historic creatures better than anyone. But before the team can even settle in, Mayor Humdinger's greed sets off a volcanic eruption, putting the island and its dinosaurs in danger.

Beneath the familiar good-versus-evil setup, the film is really Marshall's story. The clumsy Dalmatian firefighter, usually the source of comic relief, is suddenly pushed into the spotlight and forced to confront something much more difficult than a dinosaur or a raging volcano: his own self-doubt.

Marshall has always been the pup who tumbles, slips and gets things slightly wrong, and the film leans into that. His fire truck takes an extraordinary amount of punishment too, leading to one of the film's better running jokes, with another pup quipping that it is not a very good week to be Marshall's fire truck. It is silly, funny and perfectly suited to the film's young audience.

But the joke eventually becomes part of something more meaningful. Marshall begins to wonder whether the team would be better off without a pup who is always making mistakes. What follows is a surprisingly sweet arc about discovering that being clumsy doesn't mean being incapable, and that one failure doesn't have to define you. That is where The Dino Movie finds its heart.

Marshall's journey is essentially about refusing to give up on yourself. He learns that courage isn't about never being scared or never getting something wrong; sometimes it is simply about trying again. And when he does, the other pups and Ryder are there to remind him that asking for help isn't a weakness either.

It is a simple message, but one that works precisely because children will understand it. The film repeatedly returns to the values that make the PAW Patrol more than just a group of dogs with cool vehicles: kindness, bravery, friendship, teamwork and faith in yourself. And the arrival of Rex reinforces that. A pup who uses a wheelchair is introduced not as someone who needs to be rescued, but as someone with knowledge and abilities the others desperately need.

And perhaps that is what makes the film work better than its straightforward plot suggests. Children may come for the dinosaurs and stay for the rescue missions, but they are also being handed lessons about resilience, friendship and looking out for one another. Kids watch films like this repeatedly, and the messages become familiar through repetition: don't give up, believe in yourself, seek help when you need it and never underestimate what you can do.

The animation is bright and energetic, while the dinosaurs and volcanic sequences give the film enough scale to make the big-screen adventure worthwhile. At 88 minutes, it also moves briskly, rarely giving its young audience a chance to lose interest. The soundtrack gets a fun pop touch with the Backstreet Boys' Bottle Up, written by Ed Sheeran and Savan Kotecha, adding to the upbeat mood.

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie isn’t particularly interested in surprising you. The villain is predictable, the lessons are plainly stated, and the emotional beats are easy to see coming. But perhaps that clarity is part of its charm, something that will find takers among tiny tots and even their parents.

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